Kraftwerk fan renames himself after the band

The man who is originally from Florida, posted a picture of his driver’s licence on his Flickr page (pictured) with his name as Kraftwerk, followed by his address. It is unclear what his real name is although his account web address lists the name David Sanborn.

The man also posted a series of pictures, which you can view below, of himself wearing the band’s iconic red shirt and black tie from their 1978 ‘Man-Machine’ album as he goes shopping, driving, eating and filling his car with petrol.

Moses Pelham sampled a two-second drum sequence from Kraftwerk’s 1977 song ‘Metal On Metal’ for the 1997 song ‘Nur Mir’, which Pelham wrote for fellow rapper Sabrina Setlur.

Kraftwerk mainstay Ralf Hutter initially sued Pelham in 2012 over the song, whose title translates as ‘Only Me’. Then, a German court ruled that ‘Nur Mir’ should be deleted, agreeing with Hutter that the repeated sample amounted to copyright infringement.

However, Pelham took the case to Germany’s court of appeal, which ruled that the song’s impact on Kraftwerk should not supersede Pelham’s “artistic freedom”.

A statement from the Bundesgerichtof (court of appeal) said that blocking samples like Pelham’s “would practically exclude the creation of pieces of music in a particular style”. Hutter had argued that, as a fellow musician, Pelham should have sought Kraftwerk’s permission before sampling the section from ‘Metal On Metal’.

The Bundesgerichtof’s ruling means that Germany’s federal court must now examine the initial 2012 case afresh to reassess the case.

Meanwhile, Kraftwerk are to play all eight of their albums at a residency at the Norwegian Opera House in Oslo from August 4-7, before embarking on a US tour in September.

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